


channel orange in your living room

by Anonymous



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, First Meetings, Fluff, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, Short, Songfic, implied markhei, its only two scenes but its very graphic, nomin are guitarists, so pls be careful, this is gonna flop isn't it, tw for vomit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28400721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: "But now I can't stop thinking about you,Each moment passes and my thoughts return to you;And the memory of us too...As we listen to Channel Orange in your living room."
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17
Collections: Anonymous





	channel orange in your living room

**Author's Note:**

> songfic i wrote out of impulse. i listened to soundgarden's superunknown album while writing this... bless chris cornell's beautiful vocals.
> 
> i already know this one's gonna flop but a boy can dream, right?

Jaemin’s heartbeat pounds in his head as he stands on the cold balcony, glass of mixed up substances in his right hand. He tucks his left hand underneath his right arm, and he hisses from the cold wind hitting his skin like a truck.

He’s shivering, the only thing covering him up are the mom jeans he has on and his jean jacket, which aren't very warm if you ask him. Not to mention that he’s drunk. At least, he thinks he’s drunk, albeit he’s not so sure about that because even though everything is spinning and his vision is blurry, he can still form coherent sentences. At least, in his head he can.

The only reason why he’s standing out here is because his good friends Donghyuck and Renjun told him to wait for them on the balcony; He vaguely remembers Renjun explaining that Donghyuck wanted him to meet one of his friends. And, so he giggled and shrugged it off, mixed more than two substances in his glass, and walked out to the balcony. And now he was here, freezing his ass off as he waited for his friend to come back.

Luckily for him, Donghyuck walks out holding a stranger’s arm, and Jaemin has to squint to make out the stranger’s face. It’s a boy– A pretty one, covered in a big blue hoodie that looks warm, rimless glasses settled on the bridge of his nose, and he’s a bit shorter than Jaemin, but it’s only by a few centimeters so Jaemin doesn’t really care.

“Hyuckie!” Jaemin whines, he sets down his drink on the floor before running up to Donghyuck and engulfs him in a bone–crushing hug. “Why did you take so long?”

“Relax, Nana,” Donghyuck laughs, but he hugs back nonetheless. “I had to find Renjun to catch our friend, y’know. Sorry to keep you freezing.”

Jaemin pulls away and sniffs. “It’s okay,” He glances over to the stranger next to Donghyuck and grins. “Who’s this?”

“Ah, that’s right,” Donghyuck clicks his tongue. “Jaemin, meet Jeno. Jeno, meet Jaemin.” He gestures to the space between him and Jeno, and Jaemin hands out a hand for Jeno to shake. Much to his surprise, Jeno shakes his hand, and smiles back. 

“Anyways. I’m tired, and I think I lost Renjun again, so I’ll be right back. Settle down in the living room, if you want,” Donghyuck sighs as he looks back inside, eyes glancing at the glass door. “Fuck… I really need to go. Get to know each other, okay? And Jaemin, please don’t be rude.”

“I won’t!” Jaemin exclaims. Donghyuck smiles at him before opening the glass door and sprints inside.

Jaemin huffs and sniffles again, grabs his drink, and gestures to the door. “So… Hey, I guess?” He chuckles. 

“Hi,” Jeno sighs. He squints at the drink in Jaemin’s hand. “What are you drinking… Why is it green?”

“This?” Jaemin raises his glass. “Oh. I actually don’t know,” He snickers. “I kind of just mixed everything up.”

Jeno gasps dramatically. “That’s bad for you! Here, give me that,” He reaches out to the drink in Jaemin’s hand and grabs his hand. “C’mon.”

Jeno leads him inside and into the dining room, where Mark and Yukhei are sitting at the table. They perk up at the sight of Jaemin, but Jeno waves them off and walks to the kitchen cupboard and grabs another glass to pour water in it instead. He turns back to Jaemin and hands him the glass. “Drink this.”

Jaemin grins and giggles foolishly, but drinks the water anyways. Jeno cocks an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?”

“Your face,” Jaemin snorts. “You look so worried, it’s adorable.”

Jeno flushes red. “I– What–” He stammers. Jaemin just giggles more.

“Ooh, look who’s talking, Hei,” Mark hits Yukhei’s shoulder playfully and points to the two. “Lee Jeno and Na Jaemin. I didn’t think Hyuck would actually listen to me.”

Yukhei laughs. “They’re the perfect match, Mark. Leave them be.”

Mark smiles. “Yeah, they are.”

They end up sitting on the dining table after Mark and Yukhei leave, and Jaemin finishes the rest of his water there. Jeno watches him, hissing everytime Jaemin spills water on himself.

“You drink so slow,” Jeno whines. Jaemin shrugs. “I gotta be careful, Jen.”

Jeno smiles at the nickname. 

“So, Jaemin,” He starts. “What’s your occupation?”

Jaemin sips his water once more before speaking. “Guitar.”

Jeno beams. “A guitarist? Gosh, me too,” He squeals. “I can’t believe it!”

Jaemin chuckles and shakes his head.

When Jaemin is done, Jeno grabs his hand and leads them to the living room.

It’s more spacious, Jaemin realizes, when he looks around and sees that not many people are there – All that’s left are the two owners of the house they’re in, Renjun and Donghyuck, sitting on the couch and bickering like they usually are.

Jeno clears his throat, and the couple immediately stops to stare up at them. They sit up, and Jeno clicks his tongue.

“This guy is piss drunk,” He gestures to Jaemin, who just snorts in return. “Mind taking him home?”

“Mmm, no,” Renjun yawns. “I’m tired. You take him.” Donghyuck whistles in agreement.

Jeno rolls his eyes. “You guys are so dumb. I don’t even know where he lives!”

“Find out yourself. Ask him, gosh, I don’t know!” Donghyuck shrugs.

Jeno sighs. “Fine,” He groans, and makes his way to the door, grip on Jaemin’s hand tightening.

“Bye–bye!” Jaemin waves. “Renjun, don’t be so mean to Donghyuck! Be safe!” He yells, a large grin on his face.

The couple waves back, and as soon as Jeno’s footsteps are gone, Renjun turns to Donghyuck, who smirks down at him.

“You evil son of a bitch,” Renjun growls. “You did that shit on purpose.”

“Yeah, so?” Donghyuck leans back and yawns. “They’ll thank me later when they get married.”

Renjun bites his tongue. He sighs. “Whatever. C’mon, let’s clean up so we can go to bed. I’m fucking exhausted.”

“Mh, don’t want to.”

“Lee Donghyuck.”

“Fine.”

❀❀❀

Jeno grunts as he unlocks the door to his apartment, hand intertwined with Jaemin’s, who hasn’t stopped clinging on him since the moment they left Renjun and Donghyuck’s place.

“Jaemin,” Jeno huffs. “Please. I need to unlock the door.”

Jaemin whines, but he lets go anyway, and Jeno mutters a small “thank you” before opening the door.

They walk in, but Jaemin can barely make it past the couch, legs giving out and he collapses onto the carpet floor. He giggles. “Oops.”

“Gosh, Jaemin,” Jeno sighs and picks him up. “Here. You need to throw up, right?”

“Eh… Yeah.”

“Thought so.”

He leads Jaemin into the bathroom, where Jaemin hunches over the toilet bowl and pukes. He coughs it out at first, and then his throat opens up and the rest comes out in green and brown specs, and even though it’s gross and utterly disgusting, Jeno holds him through it all and pats him on the back for support.

Jaemin nearly passes out when he’s done, eyes droopy and hair slightly disheveled, and Jeno starts to feel a bit bad for the young guitarist, so he cleans his mouth and leads him (yet again) to the couch and lays him there.

“C’mere,” Jaemin mutters. Jeno sniffs. “What?”

“Come here.” He sounds demanding, so Jeno does so, and Jaemin immediately wraps his arms around Jeno’s waist and pulls him towards the couch. Jeno yelps, but he immediately soothes when Jaemin shushes him. He gulps.

Jaemin closes his eyes right away, and Jeno reaches out to his phone to play a random Frank Ocean album as he sighs and finds peace in Frank Ocean’s soothing voice.

Jaemin opens one eye at the sound of music, but closes it back after he realizes it’s not that loud. The last he remembers seeing is the name “Channel Orange” on an orange background, and the sight of Jeno’s brown hair covering his face.

❀❀❀

Jaemin doesn’t see Jeno after that.

Mark is the one who picks him up from Jeno’s place, but he didn’t even get a goodbye because Mark was already dragging him out of the door. He stumbles over himself, but Mark holds him up through it all.

It’s disappointing, really – Jaemin was already attached to Jeno despite only knowing him for barely an hour. He blames it on the alcohol.

“Don’t be so sad, Min,” Mark comforts. “You’ll see him again soon.”

And it’s really hard to believe that, because weeks pass and hours go on, and even at Renjun and Donghyuck’s parties he can’t find a trace of the brown haired boy named Jeno. And well, it saddens Jaemin a bit, fearful that maybe it’s because he was too clingy, but Yukhei says otherwise.

Jaemin doesn’t believe him.

His song ideas are filled with thoughts of Jeno – Whenever he writes lyrics for his instrumentals, it’s always got something to do with Jeno.

He can’t help it. Not when Jeno was so kind and comforting towards him.

He spends his days moping around, playing absentmindedly on his acoustic guitar, head filled with vague memories of Jeno holding his hand and holding him as Channel Orange plays in his living room.

❀❀❀

“What’s Jeno like?”

Donghyuck furrows his brows at Jaemin’s sudden question. “What do you mean what’s Jeno like? You’ve met him, you would know,” He says, as he coats a glass in green apple flavored soap. “Is something up? You’ve been asking a lot about him lately. I thought you still kept in touch?”

Jaemin sighs. “No… I didn’t actually get to know him,” He presses the heels of his palms to his eyes. “I was drunk that night, I didn’t ask for his number or… Anything. I mean, all I can remember is that he said he was a guitarist, so…”

Donghyuck turns around. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh,” Donghyuck sniffs. “Kind of TMI, if you’re asking me.”

“Hyuck, I didn’t ask,” Jaemin snickers.

“What about Jeno?” Renjun walks into the kitchen, and takes a seat next to Jaemin on the island. “Hey, Jaemin. Pass me the cookies, will you?”

“I just wanted to know more about Jeno…” Jaemin mutters as he passes the jar of cookies to Renjun. “Thanks. And I can help with that, you know.”

Jaemin perks up. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Renjun speaks through a mouthful of cookies. “His full name is Lee Jeno, his favorite color is blue, he’s bilingual, he’s a guitarist for fun, he’s twenty–two, and he owns like, three cats,” Renjun gulps. “For his personality, he’s quiet. He only hangs around people he likes, and he ghosts everyone who hurts his feelings,” He finishes.

Jaemin slumps in his chair. “Oh.”

“Why?” Renjun asks, jar now empty. “Is he ghosting you?”

“No,” Jaemin shakes his head. “I don’t even have his number or anything. I haven’t seen him in a while.”

Donghyuck snorts. “You’ve only seen him once. Relax, Jaemin. You’ll see him again soon.”

“That’s what Mark said, and I still haven’t seen him,” Jaemin pouts.

“I agree with Hyuck,” Renjun states. “Patience, Jaemin. You have to have  _ patience _ .”

❀❀❀

It’s been a month since Jaemin met Jeno. And yet, he still hasn’t seen the brunette.

He continues to write songs about Jeno, lyrics filled with angst, undertones of unrequited love hidden in them. His guitar strings nearly break from how aggressive he is at times, but he always replaces them, determined to spill his heart out onto his new album.

He’s not that famous – Around five–thousand followers on Twitter, that’s… A lot, but it’s not like they pay attention anyways. Half of them are his dead family’s accounts and his close friends, others are just casual listeners. But as far as he knows, nobody really likes his music, and although it stings, he tries not to let it get to his head.

Renjun gives him Jeno’s Twitter, where the older has only fifty followers. Jaemin sort of feels bad, so he clicks follow, not expecting a follow back.

He spends the rest of the day eating ice cream while watching his favorite shows on Netflix, jotting down random lyrics he gets in his head, recording songs, a whole mess really. He doesn’t check his phone until late at night, and he’s surprised to find that Jeno followed him back.

Jaemin dwells on whether he should DM him or not, but he decides against it, and falls asleep to Thinkin’ Bout You by Frank Ocean.

❀❀❀

Two months.

It’s been two months since Jaemin last saw Jeno.

The latter even unfollowed him on Twitter, which kind of stung, but he doesn’t think about it too much. He chooses to focus on his music instead, using it as a way to vent.

Jeno, he’s– Well, Jaemin can’t deny that he’s infatuated with the older. Give him a break, Jeno held him and was kind enough to let him sleep on his couch when he was drunk. That alone is enough for Jaemin to fall head over heels (or, boots, Jaemin prefers boots) for someone. In this case, it’s Jeno, and he’s all Jaemin can think about.

Jaemin slumps onto Yukhei’s couch as he stares into Mark’s dark eyes.

“What is it now? You look sad,” Mark asks, albeit Jaemin is sure that the older man already knows why he’s sad. He pulls at his boot laces.

“Jeno,” Jaemin sniffs. “Again.”

Mark sighs. “Just DM him, Jaemin.”

“I can’t,” Jaemin grimaces. “He, um. He unfollowed me.”

Mark blinks. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“And you don’t want me to ask him?”

Jaemin sighs and closes his eyes. “No. It’s okay,” He shakes his head. “I get it. He probably doesn’t like me.”

“Jaemin, don’t say that. You don’t even know what’s going on,” Mark counters. “He could just be upset over something completely different, don’t fret.”

Jaemin wishes he could believe Mark.

❀❀❀

Jaemin attends another one of Renjun and Donghyuck’s parties, this time coming along with Yukhei and Mark, albeit he feels a bit like a third wheel with them. Oh well, he’s done it with Renjun and Donghyuck before, this is nothing.

He doesn’t drink anything – The only thing he drinks is a few glasses of water, until he eventually gives up and stops drinking altogether.

Renjun walks over to him with a glass in his hand. “Hey, Min. What’s with the long face?”

Jaemin glares at him. “I think you already know what.”

Renjun rolls his eyes and sits down next to him on the couch. “True.”

“Did he come to this one already?” Jaemin huffs. “Or is he not here yet and on his way? C’mon, Jun. I’m desperate.”

Renjun snickers. “Yeah, I can tell,” He takes a sip of his drink and winces. “Ew, what the fuck did Donghyuck put in this– Uh, well, he’s not here yet, but I’m not sure if he’s coming,” Renjun says, already knowing who Jaemin was talking about. “You’ll have to ask Donghyuck about that. He’s the one who invited everyone."

Jaemin pouts and slumps against the couch. He sighs and looks over to the drink in Renjun’s hand. It’s brown, dark and shiny under the living room light. It looks heavy, and by the look on Renjun’s face, it’s disgusting as well. Exactly what Jaemin needs and wants.

Renjun takes note of the way Jaemin eyes his drink. He snorts. “You want some?” He gestures to the drink. “I’ll ask Donghyuck to make you some. I have no fucking clue what he put in it, but it’s really heavy,” He warns.

“That’s okay,” Jaemin insists. “I need to get piss drunk again anyways.”

“Fine,” Renjun pats his head. “I’ll be right back.”

When Renjun comes back, he has a glass of the same dark drink he was drinking. Jaemin hastily takes it and mutters a thanks before downing half of the whole thing.

Fuck, Renjun was right – It’s heavy, and it’s down right  _ disgusting _ , Jaemin could honestly see why Renjun was so disgusted by it. He nearly spits it out in the first sip, but he sucks it up and swallows it.

“Damn, Jaemin!” Beside Renjun, Donghyuck walks up, a glass bottle of cheap beer in his hand (not his style at all, him and Renjun are rich as hell) and a baffled smile on his face. “Calm down, that shit’s heavy. I put a lot of stuff in there.”

“Yeah, we’ve already established that, Hyuck,” Renjun takes the bottle of beer and takes a long sip. He sighs in content and hands it back to Donghyuck, who pays him no mind and takes a sip himself. “Fuck. Jaemin, you wanna get wasted tonight? I feel like shit,” Renjun offers.

Jaemin snorts. “Fuck yeah, dude,” He downs the other half of the drink and nearly passes out from how gross it tastes. “Hey, Hyuck.” He turns to look at the couple and nearly throws up at the feeling of the alcohol in his veins swishing around in his stomach. “What did you put in this?”

“Dude,” Donghyuck cackles. “I don’t even know. Like, a bunch of shit. You can have the rest of it, if you want,” He hands Jaemin a bottle of the substance. “Have fun, you’re gonna get the worst hangover of your life in the morning.”

Jaemin hums, examining the bottle closely. “Even better,” And that’s the last thing he says before dumping in more of the drink into his glass.

❀❀❀

Jaemin is piss drunk.

Not even two hours into the party and him and Renjun are already drunk off their asses, rosy hues coloring their cheeks red. Renjun’s slightly more sober than Jaemin, but just as drunk, telling by the way he’s falling asleep, clinging tightly onto Donghyuck’s arm.

Donghyuck snorts at the sight of Jaemin laughing his ass off. “Dumbass.”

Jaemin doesn’t register the word in his head – He bangs his head to the random song playing in the background… What is it… Mailman by Soundgarden…? He doesn’t know what it is, or well. He does, he just can’t remember the name thanks to the heavy substance he downed an hour ago.

The glass bottle Donghyuck had handed him earlier is damn near empty, brown liquid already below halfway. Jaemin laughs, cries, and eventually sinks into the couch, too tired and exhausted to drink more.

He casts his gaze upwards – The light switches on and off. Does it? Or is he just blinking? The music has switched to some heavy punk rock, he thinks, but he doesn’t know. He doesn’t really know much, just the faint name of “Jeno” and the bitter taste the name leaves on the tip of his tongue. He sighs and lays motionless, Renjun and Donghyuck long gone, no longer there beside him. Hm, strange. He doesn’t even remember when they’d left.

When did it get so quiet, anyways? In just the blink of an eye, the punk rock is gone, and now silence engulfs him and leaves him to drown in it, to drive him near passing out and–

_ Oh _ . Oh, no, the nasty taste of the brown substance he’d gotten drunk on rises to his throat, and he abruptly gags before he feels someone pick him up by his arms. He can’t register who it is, too wasted to even care, but he does register the way they lead him into a bathroom and allow him to kneel onto the floor, and he lurches over the toilet bowl and gags once more before letting all of the substances come out his throat and down his mouth,  _ spilling _ , spilling down into the toilet’s water, until all that comes out are choked out sobs and saliva. The toilet flushes and he slumps into the person’s arms, allowing himself to be taken care of, to drift off to sleep in them.

❀❀❀

Jaemin wakes up to the smell of food and the sound of Frank Ocean’s Lost.

He’s in a familiar looking living room, laying on a grey couch that he’s pretty sure he’s seen before, and he groggily groans at the headache hitting him instantly. He barely registers the fact that he’s not alone (far from that) before a voice cuts through the air.

“Awake?”

Jaemin snaps his head beside him and finds Jeno, a small smile on the latter’s face as he hands Jaemin a bag of… Taco Bell, and the guitarist takes it confusingly, a swirl of questions coming up to his head alongside the ache.

Luckily, Jeno seems to read his mind and answers (most of) his questions. “I went to Donghyuck and Renjun’s party last night, to clear my head and relieve tension, but by the time I got there I saw you and Renjun wasted on the couch,” Jaemin furrows his brows at Jeno’s words as he takes out a Dorito Loco and unwraps it. “I saw Renjun getting taken away by Donghyuck when people started leaving, so I took that as a cue to help you up,” A bite. “But then you started choking. And then I realized that you were about to puke. So I guided you to the bathroom, cleaned you up and drove you here, since I don’t know your address. And now you’re here.”

Jaemin nods slowly, chews slowly, and registers the words slowly. Three bites and four minutes later, Jaemin speaks up for the first time that day. “And now I’m here,” He repeats, voice groggy and deep, rough with having just woken up.

Jeno beams. “Yep!”

Jaemin looks over to him and sends him an angry look, before shaking his head slowly and scoffing in disbelief. “Asshole,” He curses under his breath.

Jeno furrows his brows. “I’m sorry?”

“Asshole,” Jaemin repeats, louder this time. He sets down his food and swallows the remaining left before sitting up straight and looking at Jeno in the eyes. “You’re a fucking asshole, Jeno. What, we meet once, you ghost me for two months and now, what? You decide you want to help me again? What kind of dumb fuckery is that?” Jaemin scolds.

Jeno looks down. Jaemin scoffs. “Explain. Now, before I change my mind.”

“Okay, look,” Jeno is quick to look back up and give an explanation. “We met, right? But, you see, I noticed we had some sort of… Tension, I guess? And I’m scared of that shit, Jaemin,” Jeno stammers as Jaemin cocks an eyebrow questioningly. “I’m so scared of dating, I can’t trust anybody. But with you, we just… Clicked, and I felt like I could trust you, but then I pussied out and I never tried to contact you again because I felt like maybe I was wrong. It’s my fault, Jaemin, I regret it. I really do! You just.. You’re so… You, and I’m so into you, but I’m…” He hangs his head low and sighs. “I’m a coward. I’m sorry, Jaemin.”

Jaemin’s once angry expression dissolves into that of a peaceful one. He slightly feels his heart shake with guilt, but that changes into understanding as soon as he realizes what Jeno had just rambled out. “Oh, Jeno.” He uncrosses his arms – Not knowing when he had crossed them – And reaches out to lift Jeno’s chin up. “Don’t be. I understand completely now, I… I should have thought. I’m the one who should be sorry.”

Jeno sniffles. “We’re both dumbasses,” He chuckles, wet with tears. “It’s fine. I just– Fuck, Jaemin. I like you so much, and I barely know you,” He sniffles again when Jaemin wipes a stray tear away. “Can we… Just take things slow?”

Jaemin smiles at him. “Yeah,” He nods. “Yeah, we can do that.”

Jeno smiles back. “Great.”

“Hey,” Jaemin says, soft, and Jeno hums as they stare at each other in silence. Their eyes tell everything, but Jaemin still feels the need to say them out loud. He subconsciously leans forward, eyes falling down to look at Jeno’s pink lips. “Can I kiss you?”

“Oh, Jaemin.” Jeno sighs and closes his eyes, as if already expecting Jaemin to kiss him. “Yes, please.”

And then Jaemin kisses him, pink lips on pink lips, soft and warm against each other. It’s not rushed, has no tongue, not even teeth – Jaemin takes it slow, like Jeno had said to, just like he’d promised. He kisses him for what feels like eternity, the sound of cats purring and Frank Ocean barely registering in his ears and mind.

Because to him, none of that matters – He and Jeno are going to take this slow, they’re going to work things out, and that’s all that matters to him in that moment as Channel Orange plays in Jeno’s living room.

**Author's Note:**

> random fun fact i actually got dumped on christmas and everyone keeps turning their backs on me, plus a whole bunch of other shit that i can't explain here, so no, im not doing so swell lmao
> 
> song rec : like suicide by soundgarden ... fave song atm


End file.
